Planer pressure shoe adjustment



April 29, 1941; M E DICK T 2,239,705

PLANE-R PRESSURE SHOE ADJUSTMENT Filed April 14, 1939 2 SheetsSheet 1 1 4 l n 1 2 I I O) z 4 3 0 T? 2. \hveflbrs lfL Evej-eifl Dick EHO W. Dick ATE-neg;

April 29, 1941. M. E. DICK E1 AL PLANER PRESSURE SHOE ADJUSTMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 14, 1939 Patented Apr. 29, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE M. Everett Dick and Eldon W. Dick, Holland, Mich., assignors to Buss Machine Works, Ho].- land, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application April 14, 1939, Serial No. 267,750

Claims. Cl. 144243) This invention relates to a control means for the back pressure bar of planing machines or the like which are used to plane or smoothly surface lumber.

When a board to be planed is fed through a planing machine and comes to the rotating cutters in the machine to which our invention is applied, the upper surface of the board is planed and passes directly from the rotating cutters to a back pressure bar or shoe which is mounted to ride against the upper planedsurface and bear with considerable pressure thereon, the amount of which is governed by heavy and strong compression springs, one at each end of the bar, the force of which is controlled or adjusted by adjusting nuts which when turned in the opposite direction, diminish and relieve such force.

- The pressure bar or shoe is supported by two adjusting screws, one at each end, which screws screw into the frame of the machine, and have a shoulder upon which the ends of the pressure bar rest. The adjustment of the bar in relation to the low point of the cutting circle of the cylinder, is through these screws. When the screws are turned in one direction,the bar is raised. The correct position of the bar is parallel with the cutting line. Therefore, if one screw is turned in either direction more than the other, the bar is brought out of alinement with the cutting edge.

In those caseswhere rough lumber, that is, boards rough on both sides are fed into the planer, the unevenness and irregularities which appea-red at the under side of the board as it is passed over the table, may cause the board to stick at times underneath the pressure bar or shoe. Previously it has been common practice for the operator of the machine under such circumstances to raise the bar, either one or both ends, by turning the adjusting screws, as much as might be necessary, so that the board would be released and carried through the machine. This required the operator to independently adjust the pressure bar by returning the adjusting screws to their original position and if the operator is at all careless or heedless to the smallest extent, the bar becomes out of alinement and also out of proper adjustment. In other words, the proper alinement and adjusting of the pressure bar, that is, keeping it alined and parallel with the cutter head, was dependent upon the personal element of the operator of the machine. And many times the pressure bar adjustment'even if perfect at the beginning of work, would soon be out of adjustment and one end of the bar have a different pressure acting upon the boardthanthe other. Our invention is directed to a very practical, useful and yet simple mechanism to be used in combination and association with the back pressure bar of a planing or other similar lumber surfacing machine which is fool proof in its operations and in which any and all adjustments are equal at both ends of the pressure bar so that any change of condition with respect to the pressure bar is uniform throughout its length. It is also an object and purpose of the present invention to provide such mechanism for'operation by the operator of the machine and by means of which be can at any time properly locate the pressure bar with respect to the work whichis passing thereunder, can govern it for different conditions of operation, and can return the pressure bar or shoe to its initial position simply and easily and without the exercise of any particular careor skill, so that, so far as the. back pressure bar or shoezof'the machine is concerned, as to its adjustment and location, it will make no difference who is operating the machine, whether'careful or heedless, skillful or unskilled.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a rear end elevation of a planing machine to which our invention'has been applied, only so muchof the machine as is necessary to disclose the environment of the invention being shown;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the construction of our invention.

Fig. '3 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section through the upper part of a planing machine equipped with our invention, the view being taken at the position in the machine where the back pressure bar is located.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary. enlarged elevation showing one end of the pressure bar or shoe and how it is mounted on theframe of the machine,

and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the cooperating cam surfaces of the members on the pressure bar' and the adjusting means therefor, by means of which the pressure bar is raised and lowered.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

In the planing machine as shown in Fig. 3, a table having rear and forward sections l and 2 with horizontal upper faces, is illustrated, there being located between the sections l and 2 a horizontal roller 3 which is one of the lower feed rollers in the machine for grasping the lumber and carrying it through the machine. This table is disposed between spaced apart side frame members 4 which extend above the table. A horizontal beam of right angle cross section, as shown in Fig. 3, extends between the sides 4 and is located directly at the rear of an upper rear feed roller 6 which lies over the lower feed roller 3, as shown. It is to be understood that when lumber is fed into the machine it is grasped at the front part of the machine by other feed rollers which carry it to the rotating cutter cylinder, shown at 1 in front of the feed roller 6, and that the rear rollers 3 and 6 are a part only of the feed rollers used in the machine.

A pressure bar or shoe 8 is located transversely of and above the feed table between the cutter cylinder 1 and the upper roller 6. It is of substantially the shape shown in cross section in Fig. 3 and to its upper edge a bar 9 is permanently secured. The bar 9 is longer than the pressure bar 8 and extends at its ends over the adj acent upper edges of the sides 4 of the machine, the pressure bar or shoe 8 being spaced inwardly at its ends from the sides of the frame (see Fig. 4) and depending between such sides of the machine frame.

The bar 9 at its ends has vertical openings Ill through which screws H pass, which at their lower ends are screwed into the side frame members 4 of the machine. The screws ll, one at each end of the bar 9, extend upwardly through the opening I!) and heavy coiled compression springs I2 are located around rods ll above each end of the bar 9, (Fig. 4), covered with ballbearing caps I3 at their upper ends against which nuts l4 bear, it being understood that the upper end of each rod II is screw-threaded to receive the nut. It will be understood that by turning the screws II, the pressure bar is moved up or down as the case may be, and is the means of alining the pressure bar with the cutting line of the cylinder.

At the under side and at each end of the bar 9 a plate I5 is permanently secured which has a projecting lug of the form best shown in Fig. 5, the under sides of which are formed with the cam faces l6 and Isa, each extending half way around the lug, which is of cylindrical form, and with abrupt shoulders as shown at the adjacent ends of the twocam surfaces 16 and [6a.

A fiat lever l1, one for each end of the bar 9,, is equipped at one end with a head which has complementary cam surfaces l8 and 180. at the upper side of the head and said head also has a central opening through which a rod Il may pass. In practice, one of the members I! with the integral head described thereon is placed over each of the rods II and located on the top of the shoulder l9, which may be either integral with or secured to the rod H, the pressure bar or shoe then located in place with the rods ll passing through the openings in the ends of the bar 9 so that the faces l6 and I8, and IE'a and lBa are brought into bearing engagement with each other. Thereafter the springs l2 are put in place, the caps I3 placed over their upper ends and the nuts l4 screwed onto the upper threaded ends of the rods H.

The two bars I! extend rearwardly and upwardly and at their rear ends are connected by a horizontal tie bar 29. It is evident that the longitudinal movement of the bar 29 will turn.

both of the members I! simultaneously in the same direction. A handle lever 21 is pivotally mounted at its lower end at 22 on the bar 5 and has a pin and slot connection at 23 with the bar 20, so that when the upper end of the handle lever 2| is grasped and the lever is swung about its pivot 22, the bar 29 will be longitudinally shifted. The handle lever 22 is mounted adjacent a gauge bracket 24 which is permanently secured to and extends upwardly from the beam 5. The upper portion of said bracket is of arcuate shape and may be equipped with gauge indicating characters.

Assuming the machine to be in proper adjustment for receiving lumber of a certain thickness, when a board is fed into the machine from front to rear in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 it comes to the rotating cutters at 1 and has its upper side planed and smoothed. The lower surface of the pressure bar or shoe 8 is very slightly below the lowest plane reached by the edges of the cutters, whereby a considerable pressure is exerted by the pressure shoe against the planed surface of the board. Normally the board will pass continuously underneath the pressure shoe, the tension of the springs l2 having been properly adjusted so that if necessary the pressure shoe 8 may be slightly lifted when a slight irregularity or additional thickness of a board comes between the pressure shoe and the upper side of the feed table at 2. At times, however, such irregularities are too large to let the board pass the shoe. -When this occurs, the operator of the machine grasps the handle lever 2| and moves the bar 20 longitudinally in a direction such that the inclined engaging cam surfaces 16 and I8 and Ita and l8a ride upon each other and lift each end of the bar 9 a short distance, compressing the springs I2, thereby releasing the board to pass underneath the shoe. And as soon as the board has been released and passes further through the machine, the operator can return the'handle 2! to its initial position.

It is to be understood that the angle of the surfaces l6, lBa, l8 and [8a to the horizontal is relatively small. In practice it has been fixed at 3 to the horizontal. Of course, this angle may be varied to either side of 3 which is given only as an example.

This manual control is independent of the means used to tension the springs. In the normal operation of the machine where there is no sticking in the feed, the operation of the machine is exactly as it would be without the invention applied. With our invention there is an assurance that at all times the pressure bar is parallel with the cutting edges of the knives and the cutting line of the cut. It eliminates substantially, in fact nearly all, pressure bar adjustment and all the independent end adjustments during the operation of the planer. It is only after a new setting, truing, grinding and jointing of the knives, that it is necessary to independently adjust each end of the bar 9 for proper location and pressure. If during the operation the knives become slightly dulled but have not yet reached a stage where they need to be removed and sharpened, then by moving the hand lever 21 to one side from its zero position a small amount, the pressure bar is readily adjusted for the slightly dulled condition of the knives.

The invention has proved very useful in service and has now been practically used and marketed for some time.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

We claim:

1. In a planing machine, spaced apart side frame supports, a back pressure bar extending horizontally between said supports and having ends extending over the supports,'vertical rods connected with said supports passing upwardly through the ends of said pressure bar, each of said rods having a shoulder thereon spaced from said bar, coiled springs mounted on said rods above the ends of the pressure bar, nuts threaded onto the upper portions of said rods against the springs, and rotatably mounted cam means between each end of the pressure bar and the adjacent shoulder, the movement of which in one direction elevates the pressure bar against the force of said springs.

2. In a planing machine, spaced apart side frame supports, a back pressure bar extending horizontally between said supports and havin ends extending over the supports, vertical rods connected with said supports passing upwardly through the ends of said pressure bar, each of said rods having a shoulder thereon spaced from said bar, coiled springs mounted on said rods above the ends of the pressure bar, nuts threaded onto the upper portions of said rods against the springs, rotatably mounted cam means between each end of the pressure bar and the adjacent shoulder, the movement of which in one direction elevates the pressure bar against the force of said springs, a member connecting both of said means, and means for manually operating said member to simultaneously move both of said means to thereby simultaneously elevate both ends of the pressure bar.

3. In a planing machine or the like, side frame supports, a horizontally located back pressure bar disposed between the upper portions of said frame supports and having ends extending over said frame supports and having ends extending over said frame supports, vertical rods connected to the frame supports passing freely through the end portions of said back pressure bar, springs around said rods above the bar, nuts threaded onto the rods against the upper ends of the springs to compress the springs against said pressure bar, cam members connected to and located at the under side of each end portion of the pressure bar and around each of said rods,

and levers, each having a head disposed around a rod and located below a cam at an end of the pressure bar, said heads at their upper sides having cooperating cams to engage with the first mentioned cams, said levers extending away from said rods, the turning of said levers causing the ends of the pressure bar to be lifted against the pressure of the springs.

4. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 3, combined with a bar connecting the outer ends of said levers, whereby on longitudinal movement of said bar the levers will be simultaneously moved equal amounts. 7

5. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 3, combined with a horizontal bar connecting the outer ends of said levers, a handle member pivotally connected at one end to the frame of the machine and between its ends pivotally and slidably connected to said bar, the outer end of the handle being free for manual engagement to longitudinally move said bar.

M. EVERETT DICK. ELDON W. DICK. 

